Court Cuts Samsung a Slice of Dutch Apple Pie

Today in international tech news: In the two companies' latest courtroom spat, Apple has been ordered to pay damages to Samsung for infringing on patents. Also: The Pirate Bay cofounders are seeking a hearing at a human rights court; ESPN ups the ante for Wimbledon coverage; British neo-Nazis tap into YouTube's revenue-sharing program and more.

A court in the Netherlands has ordered Apple to pay damages to Samsung for infringing on a Samsung patent, according to the BBC.

In an email to the BBC, South Korea-based Samsung said that the decision confirmed that Apple was again free-riding on Samsung technology. In this particular case, that technology related to connecting phones and tablets to the Internet.

It was not immediately known how much Apple would have to pay, but Samsung told the BBC that it would seek "adequate compensation."

Last month, a U.S. judge ordered the CEOs of both Apple and Samsung to meet in order to hash out their two sides' ongoing two-way legal battles.

It has been a litigious month for Apple, which on June 9 was hit with a US$2.3 million fine in Australia for erroneously labeling its most recent iPad "4G," even though they would not work on 4G networks in Australia.

Pirate Bay cofounders seek hearing at human rights court

Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij, the Swedish cofounders of the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, will seek a hearing at the European Court of Human Rights, according to TorrentFreak.

Neij and Sunde have been given to 10-month and eight-month jail sentences, respectively. They are not in jail yet, however, and are trying to take their case to one of Europe's highest courts.

The appeal is based on Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which guarantees freedom to both receive and distribute information, Neij's lawyer told TorrentFreak.

However, along with "information," The Pirate Bay also facilitates the transfer of pirated movies, music, television programs and software -- hence the pending jail terms for its founders.

ESPN Wall-to-Wall for Wimbledon

The move marks the fist time ever that U.S. consumers will be able to watch every match in real time, according to the article. In 2009, former rights-holder NBC employed live streaming, including the broadcast of simultaneous matches, but ESPN will lay that to waste.

ESPN's on-demand coverage, which will feature multi-screen viewing, will be aired on the outlet's online platform, ESPN3. This coverage will be available to the roughly 75 million people whose providers have deals to broadcast ESPN3, according to PaidContent.

ESPN's mobile-device coverage will include point-by-point updates and video highlights.

ACTA Dead in EU - Almost

This time, though, it really looks like Europe may have pulled the plug on ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

The European Parliament trade committee on Thursday rejected ACTA by a 19-12 vote, according to ZDNet.

The move is significant because the trade committee has a "major influence" on the European Parliament, which will vote on ACTA on July 4.

Trade commission head Karel De Gucht said on Wednesday that he will implore the European Parliament to reconsider ACTA some time in the next few years, apparently signaling that the EP is all but certain to reject it this time around.

ACTA is designed to harmonize copyright enforcement around the globe but has run into both legal and social opposition since it was finalized. It has yet to be ratified by any of the countries that signed it.

Neo-Nazis Take to YouTube

Neo-Nazis have tapped into YouTube's advertising system to obtain money from British telecommunications companies, according to The Guardian.

Extremist groups have reportedly been uploading videos which are automatically supplemented with advertisements. Google's Adsense program, which employs a revenue-sharing agreement, then cuts off a slice of the ad revenue for the groups responsible for the videos.

Google, which owns YouTube, deleted the extremist videos when it was notified of the arrangement, according to The Guardian. However, the report adds that there are no safeguards in place to prevent this type of conduct.

Tech Trek is a blog that looks at tech news from around the world. David Vranicar is a freelance journalist currently living in the Netherlands. His ECT News Network archive, with links to articles and podcasts, is
available here. You can email him at david.vranicar@newsroom.ectnews.com